Understanding a Hero Response to Challenge!
by OwlheadAthena
Summary: Response to a challenge issued by TheBlueVampireQueen. Summary: During the aftermath of a ghost invasion, Lancer realizes how truly amazing ghosts are. And mainly, Danny Phantom.


**God angst is fun to write.**

**And I don't mean to sound like a hypocrite or anything; it's just such a beautiful branch of writing style. And it's also a great way to express yourself :D****  
><strong>**Which is why I write a lot of it. **

**I have **_**way **_**to many stories/ideas in my writing book that I gotta type up, so I'm happy :D I'm totally ready to spam you people!**

**But anyway, a week ago I promised TheBlueVampireQueenofAbiland I'd do a challenge she issued. And it's WAY overdue DX So sorry! I got sidetracked by… several things XD**

**Anyway, a brief summary of the challenge was to have either form of Danny (Fenton or Phantom) show up at somebody's house dripping the wrong type of blood. (Phantom with human blood, Fenton with ectoplasma.) ****  
><strong>**And the catch? The person has no idea of Danny's secret, and has no means of calling for help.**

**So yeah, I was totally like 'HECK YEAH!' for writing this XD****  
><strong>**The genre may be hurt/comfort/friendship, but there's an underlining form of angst, just because honestly, how the heck is Danny supposed to get hurt without it being you know… serious or whatever?**

**But anyway, I'll shut up now and write the stupid (LONG) one-shot XD****  
><strong>**Disclaimer: Um… no. I don't even own the bloody idea! It's TheBlueVampireQueenofAbiland's! (-_-')**

**NOTE: If ANY of you think this is a slash, then your completely wrong. It's a BONDING fix. I don't write slash, okay? I support it, but I don't write it.**

…

William T. Lancer stared at the scene in front of him in his living room, the baseball bat in his hand hanging at his side. He blinked; once, twice, before rubbing his eyes to assure himself this was _real._

Danny Phantom, hero of Amity Park, defender against humans, was sprawled on the carpet of Lancer's living room, unconscious.

And bleeding… blood?

Lancer's mind swirled. This made so flipping sense! Everybody in Amity Park knew that ghosts had _ectoplasma _as blood! But the red substance flowing out of the many gashes covering Phantom's body was no doubt human blood.

WTF? **(Oh ho, look, it's humor there! :D)**

"_Call of the Wild!_" Forcing his stiff limbs to work, Lancer tottered forward before kneeling next to the unconscious ghost boy. "Uh… Phantom? Can you hear me?" Lancer asked nervously.

For a moment, there was no response, until Phantom let out a groan and pushed himself up via his arms. However, they shook and gave out underneath him, and Phantom fell back to the floor on his stomach.

"Mr… Lancer?" He croaked weakly.

Lancer froze. "How do you know my name?"

Lancer watched as Phantom's eye's filled with a new awareness and… panic?

"I.. uh… I learn the names of all the civilians I protect." Phantom stammered, hiding his face in his bangs for a moment as he managed to push himself up into a sitting position, leaning against the wall.

"What happened to you?" Lancer questioned, a bit more strongly now that he knew Phantom wasn't going to attack.

Phantom shrugged a little, until letting out a hiss of pain via his many wounds. "I was just protecting the city as always. There was an… ambush, I guess. About four or five of my enemies ganged up on me, but I managed to send them all away. Last thing I remember is falling to the ground, totally wiped out."

Lancer blinked, then nodded. "Your instincts must've told you to find help, so you floated to the nearest house: mine. Of course, you could've knocked." Lancer added.

Phantom smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. Must've gone through the front door intangible." Balancing against the wall he was leaning on, Phantom succeeded in standing up. Staggering forward a little, he stumbled. Instinctively, Lancer stuck a hand out to balance him. Phantom looked up with a grateful smile on his face. "Thanks."

"No problem." Lancer replied, returning the gesture. It was then Lancer realized just how _young _Phantom really was. If you replaced the glowing green eyes, hair, and glow, Phantom could've easily passed for one of Lancer's students. The thought saddened Lancer, as he realized that he was helping a _ghost. _A dead person.

A boy who died before his time. A boy who never really got to live.

This newfound knowledge only strengthened Lancer's resolve to help Phantom.

"Come on, I'll call for help." Lancer said, walking into the kitchen. Phantom followed him like a lost dog, looking around, but not touching anything.

After seating Phantom in a chair at the kitchen table, Lancer picked up the phone and held it to his ear.

The only sound he got was a dial tone, which meant…

"The phone lines are out." Lancer informed Phantom with a sigh as he sat down in the chair across from the boy.

Phantom shrugged sheepishly. "It's okay. Besides, it's probably my fault anyway. Technus did use those wires to electrocute me when we fought."

Lancer blinked, taken aback. "But… how can it be your fault when your the victim?"

"Well, maybe if I didn't have so many enemies, then the town would never be under attack." Phantom explained, looking dejectedly down at the table. "it's all my fault people like you are in danger."

Lancer shook his head, his small goatee bobbing up and down a little. "No. The ghosts would've attacked us humans anyway." Hesitating a little, Lancer added; "Do you want me to fix up your cuts?"

"Huh?" Phantom said, obviously surprised, before looking down at himself. In the harsh fluorescent light of the kitchen, you could clearly make out each scratch Phantom had. "Whoa, didn't even notice I was injured." Chuckling a little, Phantom studied his wounds a bit more careful. Lancer noticed his eyes widen as Phantom realized what was coming out of his wounds…

"Why are you bleeding _human blood_?" Lancer blurted out, before mentally slapping himself at the panicked expression Danny gave him.

"Um… uh…" The boy was obviously searching for an excuse to explain why he was currently undermining years of ghost research. "I'm… SPECIAL! Yeah, that's it." Danny explained quickly.

Wait, when had _Phantom _become _Danny_?

Moving on, Lancer just gave Danny a look that said, _'You have _got _to have something better then that.'_

"No, no really, I am!" Danny protested feverishly. "I'm different from other ghosts…" Danny immediately looked like he had let out too much information, making Lancer realize the boy was telling the truth.

"What do you mean?" Lancer inquired as he got up to pull the first-aid kit from a kitchen cupboard.

"Um… it's complicated." Danny said softly, looking down at the table again.

Lancer rolled his eyes as he pulled out some gauze from the kit. "But, you're a ghost, right? Aren't they all the same?"

Danny stuck out one arm for Lancer to bandage as he replied. "Actually, no. There are at _elate _three different types of ghosts."

Lancer pause, surprised in the middle of tying up the bandage wrapped around Danny's arm. "Really?"

Danny nodded, getting into the full swing of it. "Yep. It all depends on a ghosts core." Seeing Lancer's confused look, Danny quickly explained. "A ghost core is like a human heart."

"Ah."

"Yeah. So anyway, you have different types of cores. A normal core is a normal temperature for a ghost, which is around 0 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Then there are the fire core ghosts, like Ember or Skulker, two of my enemies."

Lancer paused again. "You mean Ember _McLain? _She's a ghost?"

Danny nodded. "Yep. Fire core ghosts are usually 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but some can be the same temperature as a hypothermic human.

"The last category is Ice core ghosts, like me. We usually have below 0 core temperatures, but mine is slightly higher due to my… special status. So since I have ice powers, but am around 20 degrees, my ice powers aren't as fully developed as other Ice core ghosts." Danny shrugged, before holding out a palm. For a moment, it glowed blue, until before Lancer's eyes, a piece of ice formed. Danny held said ice against his blackened left eye, before letting out a sigh of relief. "Man that feels good."

After bandaging the worst injuries together, Danny and Lancer sat down at the table again. "So there you have it." Danny shrugged, still holding the ice to his eye. "Ghosts _are _different, besides common belief."

At that moment, Lancer's grandfather clock chimed 10:00 pm.

"Whoa, is it that late already?" Danny cried springing up and out of his chair. "I gotta go." Giving an apologetic glance to Lancer, Danny sprinted towards the door and opened it. Before exiting, Danny turned around and looked a Mr. Lancer, giving him a wink. "See you soon, Mr. L!"

Stunned, Lancer sat there. For a moment, Danny had sounded just like one of Lancer's students, Danny Fenton. But they were two different people, right?

But if they were, then why was Phantom bleeding human blood instead of ectoplasma? Did that mean Fenton could bleed ectoplasma too? But, if they _were _the same person, then that would mean Danny would have to be half-human and half-ghost.

Mr. Lancer's head was spinning as he raced towards to the doorway, only stealing a glance at the town's famous hero as he flew away at top speed.

Sighing, Lancer walked back into his home and closed the door, before letting out a smile.

Half-human or not, Danny Phantom had just won himself another supporter.

…**.**

***whistles***

**So… how did you like that? I know I didn't touch down that much on the blood part, but I'm sick right now as I write this and I don't really wanna throw up DX Ugh, I HATE being sick -_-'**

**Anyone got some Advil? Anyway, I hope your happy with this, BlueVampierQueenofAbiland, cause I spent quite a bit of time on it XD**

**Toodles!**

**~ (a sick) OHA**

**P.S: Mine and Stoppy's collab story is being published soon! :D**


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